The Journey towards Love

[TER]

...in this world truth exists in shadows and conjectures. That is why there is need for the blessed passion of holy love, which binds the intellect to spiritual contemplation...

- St. Maximos the Confessor

 

[TER]

...the soul copies the life that is above, and is conformed to the peculiar features of the Divine nature; none of its habits are lift to it except that of love, which clings by natural affinity to the Beautiful. For this is what love is; the inherent affection towards a chosen object. When, then , the soul, having become simple and single in form and so perfectly godlike, find that perfectly simple and immaterial good which is really worth enthusiasm and love, it attaches itself to it and blends with it by means of the movement and activity love, fashioning itself according to that which it is continually finding and grasping.

- St. Gregory of Nyssa

 

[TER]

And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." Divine Truth is contained and found in the commandments of the Gospel. Divine love gives us will, strength, and perseverance for we walk after the [divine] commandments, for we walk after His commandments in them and with them. Our love -- as much towards the Lord Christ as towards men -- consists of living according to the commandments of Christ. For at the end, everything comes back to this double commandment: the commandment of love of God and one's neighbor. This is why the holy Evangelist recalls all the commandments to a single one: This is the commandment, That ... you walk in it [love]. We now know that the entire Gospel of Christ is contained in the single commandment on love: he who lives in love lives in Christ God. Thus, he who fulfills the Gospel of God is deserving of heaven and earth.

-St. Justin Popovich

 

[TER]

What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relations to their children through their mildness, patience, and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children. Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behavior of the children. And their behaviour is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the parents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, harmony and understanding between parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.

- Elder Porphyrios

 

[TER]

… It says somewhere at Evergetinos, that a monk had the following characteristic, whatever you asked him for a service, he always wanted to help. If you told him “I would like to remove my bed but I cannot do it alone, he said I am coming, let’s go!”. Someone else asked ” I would like your help for that activity”, ” I am coming to help you”. Someone: “Come to the garden for a while, I would like to dig…” “I will come” he used to say. Continuously. Sacrifice, Love. That is Christianity.

- Andreas Konanos

 

[TER]

To live without speaking is better than to speak without living. For the former who lives rightly does good even by his silence, but the latter does no good even when he speaks. When words and life correspond to one another they are together the whole of divine philosophy.

- St. Isidore of Pelusium

 

[jmdrake]

And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." Divine Truth is contained and found in the commandments of the Gospel. Divine love gives us will, strength, and perseverance for we walk after the [divine] commandments, for we walk after His commandments in them and with them. Our love -- as much towards the Lord Christ as towards men -- consists of living according to the commandments of Christ. For at the end, everything comes back to this double commandment: the commandment of love of God and one's neighbor. This is why the holy Evangelist recalls all the commandments to a single one: This is the commandment, That ... you walk in it [love]. We now know that the entire Gospel of Christ is contained in the single commandment on love: he who lives in love lives in Christ God. Thus, he who fulfills the Gospel of God is deserving of heaven and earth.

-St. Justin Popovich

I take it "the Evangelist" is John? The above reads a lot like 1 John 4.

 

[TER]

I take it "the Evangelist" is John? The above reads a lot like 1 John 4.

Correct! 'The Evangelist' in Orthodox writings refers to the Apostle John, who is also known as St. John the Beloved (from the gospel writings calling him the one whom Christ loved) and also St. John the Theologian (as his Gospel is far and away the more theological and mystical of the four).

 

[jmdrake]

What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relations to their children through their mildness, patience, and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children. Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behavior of the children. And their behaviour is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the parents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, harmony and understanding between parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.

- Elder Porphyrios

Good quote. I sent this to my wife. It reminds me of a book we both read called "Parenting by the Spirit." The book is based on the two part principle of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit when disciplining your children and teaching them to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as opposed to voices tempting them to do wrong.

 

[Eagles' Wings]

Good quote. I sent this to my wife. It reminds me of a book we both read called "Parenting by the Spirit." The book is based on the two part principle of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit when disciplining your children and teaching them to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as opposed to voices tempting them to do wrong.

Proverbs 28:13, says, "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy".

Children need parents to help them form a conscience. There is right and wrong and most importantly God's commandments from both the Old and New Testament. Satan can disguise himself as an "angel of light" and talks to our minds, trying to confuse us. Parents must lead their children to Jesus Christ and His saving Grace, as He is that Grace.

We've recently removed our television and all electronic "entertainment", this in a household with teens. We've stopped listening to rock and country music. We are ernestly paying off all debt because God does not want true Christians to be in debt, including mortgages. This is due to taking the Lord seriously when we read Scripture.

After many years of being a Christian, there is still so much to learn. The Holy Spirit urges the person who is willing, to confess all sin and turn away from it.

 

[TER]

Let us love one another, and we shall be loved by God. Let us be long*suffering toward one another, and He will be long*suffering toward our sins. Let us not render evil for evil, and He will not render to us according to our sins. We shall find remission of our transgressions in forgiving our brethren; for God's mercy toward us is concealed in our mercifulness toward our neighbor. This is also why the Lord said: Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven (Luke 6:37). And if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14). After this, our salvation is already in our power.

If love worketh no ill to his neighbor (Romans 13:10), then does not he, who envies his brother, who is brought into grief by his good reputation,who tarnishes him * does not he make himself alien to love and liable to eternal condemnation?

If love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10), then is not he, who remembers evil against his brother, who prepares snares for him, who curses him and rejoices at his fall , is not he a lawbreaker, and is not he worthy of eternal torment?

If he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law (James 4:11), and the law of Christ is love (John 13:34), then does not the slanderer fall away from the love of Christ, and does not he make himself the cause of his own eternal torment?

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:46). Why did He command this? In order to free thee from hatred, resentment, wrath, remembrance of wrongs and to vouchsafe thee the greatest acquisition of perfect love, which it is impossible for one who does not love all men equally to possess, according to the example of God, Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4).

Men love each other in a praiseworthy or blameworthy manner according to the following five reasons: Either for the sake of God, as the virtuous man loves everyone, and even the man who is not yet virtuous loves the virtuous; or by nature, as parents love their children, and vice versa; or out of vainglory, as the praised loves the praiser; or out of avarice, as when a man loves a rich man for what he can get out of him; or out of love of pleasure, as the man who serves his belly and what is below the belly loves a giver of banquets. The first of these is praiseworthy, the second is in between, the rest are passionate.

A temptation was occasioned for thee by a brother, and resentment has brought thee to hatred; be not overcome with hatred, but vanquish hatred with love. Thou mayest vanquish it thus: Sincerely pray to God for him, accepting the apology offered by the brother; or heal him thyself by an apology, considering thyself the cause of the temptation and being determined to endure until the cloud passes.

Be not quick to reject spiritual love; for no other path to salvation has remained to men.

If thou wouldst be delivered from passionate thoughts, acquire abstinence and love of neighbor.

- St. Maximos

 

[TER]

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

- Romans 12:3-5

 

[TER]

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God- even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

- 1 Corinthians 10:31-33

 

[TER]

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

- 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

 

[TER]

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

- Ephesians 1:18-23

 

[TER]

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.

- Ephesians 5:25-32

 

[TER]

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

- Colossians 1:17-20

 

[TER]

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

- Colossians 3:14-16

 

[TER]

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

- Ephesians 2:19-22

 

[TER]

We love because he first loved us.

- 1 John 4:19